Natasha Hall and That Time We Went To Hogwarts
by Rae Nick
Summary: none of you are really going to understand this unless you know me and shoe and have seen VPM and VPS :  but thats okay. This is just us, AT HOGWARTS :D  Oh and maybe if you are Chris you will like it :
1. Chapter 1

"Rachel hurry up!" Natasha yelled from outside their hotel room in downtown London, England. "We need to get to Kings Cross before 9 and it's already-" Natasha held her wrist up so she could see, "-ten past eight! Holy shit, HURRY UP!" Rachel appeared from the bathroom wearing her Slytherin Robes, Plaited green & black skirt and knew high socks. Her hair was up in a high pony tail and she was applying lip gloss dramatically.

"Well I need to look decent." She said with her hands on her hips. "I mean come on, _Draco_ is going to be there!" She gave Natasha a little wink. It was the girl's third year back at Hogwarts and she was already thinking about getting back with her past fling _Draco Malfoy._

"RACHEL YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT" Natasha half-screamed at her "You can't wear your bloody robes on the train!" She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Muggles will see you! Just hurry the hell up and put on some jeans or something."

"But…" Rachel stammered.

"No butt's! Seriously. Go" She gave Rachel a little push into the bathroom. Rachel groaned and five minutes later came back out wearing jeans and a tank top.

"Better." Natasha said, "Now grab your bags and let's go!" Natasha was already hurrying down the hallway with her two Louie Vuitton travel bags rolling behind her. Rachel sighed deeply and followed close behind.

"It's not my fault I don't have the ability to get all pretty and nice looking in less than an hour like you do." She whined. Natasha just rolled her eyes. And they continued on their way to the hotel lobby. They girls had been living in the hotel room since mid-July. A month and a half prior to when they were needed at Hogwarts, like every other summer, so that they could have all their shopping done at Diagon Alley instead of having to scope downtown Vancouver for special overpriced shops that would have what they were looking for. They had been going to Hogwarts for three years now, along with quite a few other international students. A whole class of them to be exact, it had just been recently that Hogwarts started up their new exchange student program so that Witches and Wizards from across the world could be taken in by the best Wizarding School in the world to learn everything they needed to know about sorcery and magic.

After the girls had checked out and called a cab, they were on their way to the Train Station.

"What are you going to do when you see Cedric?" Rachel asked with a nervous giggle. Natasha blushed furiously.

"Nothing," she replied. "There's nothing to say! We already talked about the whole situation last time I saw him." Natasha had been dating Cedric for six steady months but ended it furiously last fall right before the Yule Ball. She was fed up with the amount of time he spent finding things and singing about Cho Chang –Natasha and Rachel's arch nemesis- "I mean," Natasha continued. "I really liked him but I just couldn't handle his strong emotions for Cho. I mean obviously he likes her so much he needs to constantly sing about her… so what's the point of me sticking around? Anyways he's so annoying sometimes and he has this weird fetish for glitter so… whatever I guess." She shrugged.

"Yeah I hate that guy. And Cho." Rachel said. "I seriously don't know how she manages to get all the guys, her and Ginny." She said, referring to their other arch nemesis.

"Ugh" Natasha groaned "Don't even mention Ginny. It's bad enough being best friends with her brother, no need to talk about her when it's not necessary."

"Oh yeah." Rachel said "Right, sorry." Ginny Weasly was a bitch. There is really no other possible way of describing her. Together, Ginny and Cho were the "Plastics" of the school, always getting whatever and _whoever_ they wanted.

"Last stop." The cab driver said looking into the mirror at the girls.

"Thaaankss" Rachel said giving him a big flashy lip gloss smile. She handed him a twenty as Natasha retrieved the bags from the trunk of the cab. As he drove away Rachel blushed "He was kinda cute." She said.

"Ohmygod." Natasha said. "You seriously need to get over your boy crazy obsession."

"But there are just so many of them! And they are all so cute!" Rachel giggled as they walked into the train station. "Now, never mind that. Where are we meeting the boys?"

Natasha took out her blackberry and went into her inbox too look at past messages.

"Ron said food court" She said putting the phone back into her pocket.

"Of course" Rachel snorted. They made their way downstairs to the food court where they found their best friend Ron chomping down on a big mac. They hadn't seen him for months and when he saw the two girls standing there he dropped the burger and stood up in seconds. Natasha ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. Rachel joined into the hug awkwardly on the side when she heard another voice from behind,

"What about me?" In the cutest English accent. Rachel turned around with the biggest grin on her face. "HARRY!" she squealed jumping into Harry Potter's arms. After a minute she laughed and let go. Natasha and Ron were still talking and laughing about their summer adventures and hadn't noticed Harry's arrival. "How are you!" Harry asked Rachel.

"I'm amazing, now." She laughed. "Wow I've really missed you." She was blushing. Her and Harry had been subtly flirting for _years_ now. She always hoped that something would happen but being The Boy Who Lived, he was always taken by the most popular and pretty girls in the school. Maybe this would be her year. "How are you?" she asked back politely.

"I'm amazing. So effing glad I'm not stuck with Vernon and Dudley for the next ten months!" There was a big grin on his face, the kind of grin that made Rachel grin right back at him.

"Well we better go-" Natasha turned to Rachel. "OH! HARRY! HEY!" she gave Harry a big hug and kissed him on the cheek. "How was your summer?"

"Pretty great" he smiled "I'll tell you 'bout that later, let's get on the train guys!"

"Gotta get back to Hogwarts" Ron smiled "Finally" They all walked to platform nine together. Standing around they heard the conductor yelling at a first year: "Platform Nine, and Platform Ten. NOTHING IN BETWEEN."

"But…but sir… please!" the kid said. "look at this letter! A bird gave it to me!" The conductor just laughed and walked away.

"Poor kid" Natasha said, she walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hogwarts?" she asked him with a big smile.

"Uhhuh" the kid said with tears in his eyes. "But I'm never gunna get there, I can't find the right platform."

"You must be Muggle-Born," Natasha said. "Me too, here you can hang with me and my friends until you get settled on the train. Look this might be scary but you just have to run through that brick wall to get to the train!" She pointed at the nearest brick wall.

"Really?" The kid said.  
>"Yep! She said, might be scary but here, watch Ron do it first. Ron?" on queue Ron gave Natasha a little nod and picked up his bags and ran through the wall with no problem.<p>

"See?" Natasha said. "Easy. Now follow him!" She pushed the boy forward and he ran through just as easy. After him Rachel went, then Harry and then Natasha herself.

"That was wicked!" The kid said when they were on the other side, standing in front of the Hogwarts Express, along with many other Wizards and Witches who were reuniting after a long summer. "Thank you!" He gave Natasha a big hug.

"Uhh, you're welcome…?" She laughed nervously.

"My name is Kevin." He said sticking his hand out. "Kevin Baites. I want to be a Ravenclaw."

"Eww" Rachel said from the sidelines quietly. "Ravenclaw…" Natasha shot her a dirty look.

"That's awesome." Natasha said shaking his hand. "I'm Natasha, I'm a Hufflepuff. That's Rachel," She said pointing at Rachel "she's Slytherin and they," she pointed at Harry and Ron. " Are Harry and Ron, they're both Gryffindor."

"HARRY POTTER AND RON WEASLEY?" Kevin exploded with wide eyes and excitement. He ran over and shook their hands.

"Yeah." Rachel said stepping between him and the boys. "Now don't crowd the famous friend, shoo!" She shooed him to the other first years. He went happily with a huge smile on his face, now that he had met Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, he was happy.

"Be nice to first years" Natasha said to Rachel with her arms crossed.

"No." Rachel said "They're fricken annoying!" Harry and Ron laughed at the girls bickering.

"Ladies," Ron said grabbing Natasha by the hand, "Let's get on the train." He pulled Natasha through the crowd of first and second years who were yakking away. Natasha was blushing furiously at the fact that Ron was _touching_ her. Rachel giggled lightly as she saw Natasha's Reaction to his gesture, but followed along with Harry.

Once they were comfortably seated in their cabin on the train Rachel started telling them about her fantastic summer in London and all the concerts she and Natasha went to and all the shopping they did.

"Wow." Harry smiled "You guys had a fantastic summer, really."

"What did you do Harry?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Sat upstairs in my room pretending I didn't exist. Ate some RedVines. Watched Glee and some musical about talking bugs in space. It was cool though." The four friends smiled their whole way to Hogwarts laughing and talking about how much of a _fantastic_ year they were going to have at Hogwarts.

And that's was it was going to be, fantastic.

Absolutely Magical.


	2. Chapter 2

As all the first years crowded into the castle for their orientation and sorting Harry, Ron, Rachel and Natasha went off to their dorm rooms to unpack and get used to being at Hogwarts again. Rachel sat at the foot of Natasha bed while watching her unpack. "Do you think Draco saw me this morning? I mean I saw him so he _had_ to see me…right? Oh god he looked so cute in his uniform. I missed him so much, I texted him like six times this summer…SIX SOLID CONVERSATIONS! How cute is that?" Rachel sighed. Natasha just gave her a look. "Yeah. Cute" she said. "What about Harry? You two looked pretty snug today at Kings Cross." Rachel's cheeks reddened and she looked around.

"Natasha! Shhh!" She said in a hushed tone.

"What? No one's around!" Natasha laughed.

"Yeah but if anyone knew about my feelings for The Boy Who Lived… well the word would get out, and then he would find out and it would just mess everything up!" She crossed her arms. Natasha continued to empty her suitcase.

"Yeah but, what if he found out and he acted on it…in a good way?" She arched her eyebrows and smiled.

"He wouldn't" Rachel sighed. "He's too interested in girls like… Cho.. or Ginny. " She sighed.

"You never know. Anyways, Draco noticed you. I guarantee it." A big smile lit up on Rachel's face and she rolled backwards onto the bed clutching a pillow.

"Eeep. This could be the start of something amazing." Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Now I'm done with this stuff, let's go up to your dorm and sort out your stuff."

"Okay!" Rachel sat up and skipped to the door and clumsily bumped into another Hufflepuff.

"S-sorry" Rachel said backing up, and then she saw who it was.

"Ew, who let you in?" Ginny Weasley sneered.

"Actually I'm not sorry. Have a good summer Ginny? The fake tan looks pretty good. Nice and orange." Rachel eyed her up and down. Ginny had an orangeish tone to her and her long red hair was now chopped into a shaggy new style topped off with blonde highlights. Her Hufflepuff Robes were long against her short yellow and black plaited skirt. She was wearing high black leather stiletto boots which added three inches to her regular short height.

"Yeah I did mudblood. Now get out of my way before I have to call the Prefects. You aren't supposed to be in here." Ginny growled.

"Oh get _over_ yourself" Rachel sneered. "It's not like you didn't sneak into the Slytherin dorm to make out with Jeff every night last year" Ginny's face flushed and her eyes widened. "Yeah." Rachel said with an obnoxious tone, "You aren't so good at that!" Ginny just stared at her with her mouth open before she snapped out of it and yelled "Oh just get out!"

"Gladly." Rachel laughed. She took Natasha by the arm and dragged her out of the Hufflepuff Dorm. "God. Sucks for you." She said. "I seriously have no idea how you put up with her." Rachel shuddered.

"After two years, you get used to it." Natasha shrugged. "Whatever, let's go to Slytherin." Rachel's frown turned into a giant grin as they made their way to the Dungeon of the Castle. Rachel loved being in Slytherin, it was her sanctuary to just sit and chat with all her devious artsy Slytherin friends. She ran into the girls dorm with open arms, ready to reunite with all her friends from the years before. She frowned when she saw the empty room.

"No one is here yet." She frowned as Natasha walked in the room a few seconds later.

"Damn." Natasha said. "Now for the time being you'll just have to deal with me…" She looked at the floor. Rachel jumped on her suddenly with a big hug.

"You're crazy, I love you, you know that, I just miss all my Slytherin girls!" Natasha laughed.

"Yeah, I get it. I wish the other Hufflepuff's were here as well. I guess they all went to check out they're classes or something. Who knows really…let's unpack your stuff." The girls spent the rest of the hour unpacking all of Rachel's clothes and other personal items she had brought with her this year.

"When does Quidditch start this year?" Natasha asked taking Rachel's brand new Nimbus 2000 out and placing it in the closet.

"Oh jeez, I don't even know. Next week I think. I'm so excited, I haven't had a chance to practice all summer and I'm getting pretty rusty." Rachel was the Keeper for Slytherin.

"Yeah I was told Hufflepuff starts practice on Friday." Natasha smiled. "I'm so excited, mum bought me a new Firebolt and everything." Rachel's mouth hung open.

"She bought you a Firebolt! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"

"Well she has to send it in the post but you know, I didn't want you to go all crazy on me, it was my birthday present for this year!" She flashed a smile.

"That's awesome." Rachel said. "Now you and Harry will be speeding ahead while me and Ron just… chill behind you." She rolled her eyes in jealousy. "Oh well." She flopped down on the bed after finally unpacking the last bit of clothing she had.

"Speaking of the boys, want to go find them?" Natasha asked with a little smile on her face. Rachel raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"Sure thing, let's check out and see if they're in Gryffindor."

As they made their way through the hallways of the castle Rachel spotted Draco.

"Talk to him." Natasha nudged her forward.

"I.. uh. I can't. No." Rachel replied heavily, she turned her back on Draco to face Natasha. "We would have nothing to talk about. I wish we did but he lost interest in me and there's no point and.."

"And you don't have a choice." Natasha said her eyes widening. Rachel felt a tap on her shoulder.

_Oh God_ she thought, turning around to face Draco Malfoy.

He was wearing his Slytherin Robes with his hair long and shaggy.

"Oh heeyy Draco," Rachel smiled brightly while her face reddened. "How are you?"

"I'm great." He said taking her in his arms for a hug. He pulled away after a moment. "How are you?"

"Really good," Rachel said awkwardly pushing her hair behind her ears and out of her eyes. "Yeah. Real good. Just unpacked all my stuff and we were just off to find H-Harry and Ron…" Her eyes trailed to the other side of the hallway, searching the crowd for the boys.

"Oh god not them _again."_ He scoffed. "I don't know why you waste your time on them, it's like a little loser family you've got yourself involved with." Rachel directed her eyes back on Draco's, which were shining bright blue.

"They are actually very nice people." She said in a squeaky tone. "I don't see why you all have to fight so much."

"Well it's their fault." He said running his hands through his hair. "They started it in first year when they refused to be friends with me! I mean it's like they have something against us Slytherins..." He winked at her. Rachel laughed nervously.

"Yeah… maybe." She stammered. "But I'm friends with them so I don't see how that's possible." She smiled brightly.

"I guess," He replied. "Doesn't matter, I'm probably transferring schools anyways next term so it won't matter." He looked away.

"What!" Rachel yelped. "Why are you transferring? To where?"

"To a much more sophisticated school, It's really far away though and you wouldn't know the name even if I told you." He had a proud look on his face.

"Ohkay.." Rachel looked around awkwardly, this conversation was far past over. "Well I gotta find the boys with Natasha so I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah." He said with a smile on his face. "We probably have potions together again." He leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek goodbye but she stumbled back quickly.  
>"Yeahcoolbye." She said turning red, she turned around to the spot where Natasha was moments ago, but now was on the other side of the room laughing –and most likely flirting- with Ron. Rachel stomped over there, her face still bright red. Ron's eyes were wide.<p>

"Did he really just try and…-"

"Yes." Rachel said with her jaw clenched.

"And you didn't let him because…?" Natasha said with her hands on her hips.

"I just… I… guess… I don't know." Rachel looked at the floor and looked over back at Draco who was talking with Crabbe and Goyle. "I still need to figure out my feelings for him." She shrugged. She stood there staring for a while and then spotted Harry near the door with Ginny.

"Uhoh." Natasha said spying the same awful sight.

"You might not want to look too much longer." Ron said with an awkward frown on his face. He knew all about Rachel's fix on Harry.

"Wait, they aren't…," Natasha said, her voice wavering. "They couldn't be!"

"They are." Rachel said with a sad tone in her voice as she watched Ginny rapidly stick her tongue down Harry's throat.

"Oh God." Natasha said with her palm to her forehead. "He is _such_ an idiot."

"I know." Ron said glumly. "Even I told him not to go for it. My little sister is a twat. And not to mention a bitch."

"And a whore and a slut and a skank." Natasha added in. She knew that Ron wouldn't take offence to this.

"Pretty much." He responded. Rachel just stared. How could she not have seen this coming? Harry and Ginny had been together most of last year, hiding up in the room of requirements and sneaking off. She just turned to her two friends. "Let's do something fun tonight." She said. "Dumbledore said that us third years get the first entire two days off to do what we want freely, as long as we aren't breaking any rules we can pretty much do whatever we please, any ideas?" She smiled hoping they would come up with something that would take her mind off of Harry and Ginny.

"We could go to the library." Natasha said. Ron shot her a look.

"The library." He repeated. "Of course _you_ would suggest that." He rolled his eyes with a smile.

"What!" Natasha said. "We could research some potion that would bring our best friend to his senses?" The group smiled.

" very funny guys." Harry said stepping up behind them. He had obviously heard what they were talking about. "But you don't understand. It's real with Ginny, I swear I have it right this time." Ron pretended to vomit.

"Whatever dude." He said. "You can have fun with the little skeez while we go out and have some fun tonight." Harry rolled his eyes.

"I have to practice guitar anyways, I'm working on this awesome song for Ginny. You guys should hear it. It's going to have her swooning for _days._" He gave them all a big smile. "Which reminds me, Rachel," Rachel looked at Harry with a sad look on her face. "Uh yeah Harry?"

"Is Winnipeg in Canada?" He asked.

"Uh, yes. It is." She replied shortly.

"Cool! Awesome. I'll catch you all later." He gave them the thumbs up and rushed away with his Guitar case in hand.

"You don't need him." Natasha said instantly. "We're going to have an awesome night. We can go see Hagrid!" She smiled at Rachel and gave her a big hug. "He'll sort everything out for us."

"Of course" Rachel laughed "But wouldn't it be a little _odd_ to see Hagrid without Harry?"

"Harry has decided to waste his time on stupid girls." Ron said with a little laugh. "It's his problem, not ours. And you know how much Hagrid must have missed us during summer, come on, let's go." Ron and Natasha both took Rachel by the hand and pulled her through the crowd that was slowly decreasing in numbers. Natasha worried about Rachel, after three years of their sisterly friendship she knew that she wouldn't be okay with Harry's recent love interest. Rachel had been torn apart by too many guys too many times, Natasha knew what she needed to do to make her smile but still, she worried.

As they made their way down to Hagrid's hut all Rachel could think about was how Ginny had won again. She had managed to do it in year two with another one of Rachel's love interests and she was doing it again, but this time she knew she had won. _There's no point in trying anymore. _Rachel thought. _Ginny will always beat me. In looks, personality and in Quidditch. _She looked at her best friends who were walking down with her. They're arms were all hooked and they had smiles on their faces. All Rachel could do was hope that they would be there for her and that she could be there for them right when they needed her. She was thankful for her amazing friends and she would do anything for them. _Anything._


	3. Chapter 3

"Hagrid!" Natasha pounded on the door with a big fist. "Open up! It's us!" After a few moments she sighed and turned around. "I guess he's not here."

"Oh!" Ron said. "How could we have been so stupid?" Natasha and Rachel looked at Ron with questioning. "He's probably still with the First years, having them all sorted." He continued.

"Ohh Right." Natasha nodded, stepping away from the door. "Wow I can't believe you figured that one out Ron." She laughed and nudged him playfully. Ron just rolled his eyes and laughed back.

"Well what now?" Rachel said biting her lip. She didn't feel like going back to the Slytherin dorm to be all alone and she definitely didn't want to bump go find Harry and Ginny.

"Want to come up to the Gryffindor dorm?" Ron asked. "We can just chill out there and you know, talk. We haven't seen each other all summer guys! We have so much to talk about." He grinned and put his arm around the girls.

"Ron." Rachel sighed. "You sound like a chick, but okay." They started running up the hill back to the castle with laughter.

Once inside the Gryffindor dorm the girls made sure that it was okay with the Prefects that they were in the boy's dorm. After agreement not to do anything stupid the girls crowded around Ron's bed. Rachel sitting at the foot, Natasha on top and Ron sitting at the floor.

"So what did you do this summer?" Ron asked Rachel and Natasha "I bet you guys got up to something interesting, you had a hotel to yourself for two months."

"A month and a half" Natasha corrected him. "But yeah, we ordered tons of room service, stayed up watching movies. It was amazing. We also visited Diagon alley quite a few times to get all our school supplies."

"Natasha's mum bought her a Firebolt!" Rachel blurted out. Ron's mouth gaped open wide in jealousy.  
>"Seriously!" He said. "What I would do for one of those…" He smiled at Natasha flirtingly. Natasha just blushed in return.<br>"Well it was my birthday present." She said. "so no big deal!"

"Yes I big deal." Rachel said crossing her arms. "All I got for my birthday was concert tickets to All Time Low." She huffed.

"You guys saw All Time Low this summer!" Ron said. "Wow. All I did was help dad out with Muggle objects and tried to avoid Ginny around the house. You know, I miss her; she used to be such a cool younger sister until she started bringing round boys. Fred and George agree too, we all think we need to have a convention with her and tell her what boys really want from her." He laid back on the floor and sighed.

"The problem is that she's giving them what they want." Natasha growled. "Whatever Ron, it shouldn't be your problem to sort out her issues."

"Yeah Ron." A high pitched voice came from behind.

"Oh God." Ron sat up quickly. Rachel and Natasha turned around to find Ginny and Harry standing in the doorway, Hand-in-Hand. Rachel quickly turned back to face Ron, she didn't want to see.

"Can you like _stop _talking about my beautiful girl?" Harry growled.

"If you stop lying about her appearance." Natasha said with a devious smile on her face.

"With comebacks like that you should be in _Slytherin_." Ginny shot back at Natasha. Rachel had enough. She turned around to face Ginny.

"If you want to date our best friend then go ahead." Rachel said. "But if you're going to have him turning against us then you can _leave._ Harry, you chose, you either turn your back on _us_ or turn your back on her, she might be everything you've ever wanted but she obviously doesn't want _you_ to be friends with _us_." At this point Rachel was standing and staring them both in the face. "So what's it going to be?"

Natasha quickly stepped in front of Rachel, cutting the tension.

"She doesn't mean that!" She said pushing Rachel back. "But maybe you should leave, just for a while."

Harry had a sour look on his face, like he had been slapped multiple times.

"_Fine._" He said taking Ginny roughly by the hand. "Let's go babe. I have a song I wrote for you anyways. I want you to hear it."

"Ooh!" Ginny giggled in a fake girly voice. "A song! Have you ever got a song Rachel?" She stung a look in Rachel's direction. Rachel's face was steaming with fury but she didn't answer.

"Bye Natasha, Bye Ron." Harry said, he just shot Rachel a dirty look and they left the dorm.

After a few moments Rachel flopped face first onto Ron's bed and let out a loud groan.

"I know." Ron said sitting beside her. Natasha came and sat down with them. "It's annoying for us too, but we will make it through. No one crosses onto our friendship, especially not her." He said.

"But what am I supposed to do!" Rachel said turning over so that she could talk. "She's just going to want to shove the fact that she's with him in my face every time I come around. She knows how much it hurts me and he… has no idea."

"Go after Draco." Natasha said while twirling her soft brown ringlets with her fingers. "Seriously, Harry isn't worth it if he's going to let Ginny treat us like that. I mean we're his _friends_ and he is destroying our friendship by being with her." Ron just sat beside the girls with a sad, broken look on his face.

"I guess I should talk to him?" He suggested.

"No." Rachel said. "I don't care, if he wants to be with her then let him." She said standing up and walking away. "I need to be alone." And with that, she left the Gryffindor Dorm.


	4. Chapter 4

After Rachel had left in such a hurry Ron and Natasha were left alone in the Gryffindor Dorm.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Ron asked he stood up and went to his cupboard to grab something to munch on for the time being.

"Yeah." Natasha said looking at her feet. "I mean, I'll go check on her tonight at dinner, but for right now we should just leave her alone." She sighed. Ron sat down close beside her holding a small purple velvet pouch containing Every Flavour Beans. Natasha smiled.

"I haven't had these in ages." She said taking a blue bean from the pouch. Ron took a grey one with red speckles.

"You go first." Natasha said, eyes wide.

"No You!" Ron laughed and hit her shoulder lightly. At the moment he touched her Natasha realized how _alone_ they really were. She gave Ron a big smile.

"On the count of three?" She asked, still laughing lightly.

"Yeah alright… one," The were staring each other deep in the eyes, without blinking Ron held the bean up to his mouth. "Two," Natasha did the same. "Three!" They plopped the beans on the end of their tongues, pulled them in and swallowed.

"Cotton Candy!" Natasha said with sparkles in her eyes. "Yum, I'll have to remember that one! What did you get?" Ron looked nauseous.

"Defeat." He said spitting the bean out into his hand. "Never trying _that_ one again." He laughed a little and put the bean in the rubbish bin by the bed. Natasha laughed nervously as Ron sat down beside her.

"Now what?" He said. Natasha just looked at him with wide eyes and tried to avoid any unnecessary awkward conversation.

"What do you think Harry Is feeling right now? About this whole thing? I mean I thought he actually _liked_ Rachel. And I didn't know Ginny… this is all so confusing!"

"I know." Ron replied. "I think that Harry just is really confused. Whenever a girl likes him well, he just likes them back. He doesn't know about Rachel and he did have feelings for her, at one point, I think."

"Relationships are stupid." Natasha said bluntly.

"Do you think so?" Ron said quietly. He looked at his hands and then back at Natasha. "I mean you went out with Cedric for quite a while."

"Yeah and then I realized how much of an idiot he is." Natasha sighed.

"I guess so." Ron agreed. "But that's Cedric, there are a lot of guys who would treat you a lot better, you know." Natasha just looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"I have yet to discover that." She said shrugging.

"Well Cedric is a bloody douche, you know? He didn't deserve you. You're too good for him, too pretty for him and too smart for him! You deserve someone better." He gave her a crooked smile.

Natasha was trying her hardest not to blush but she could feel her face reddening. She turned away from him and stood up from the bed and headed towards the door. Turning around she said,

"Yes well, maybe someone will realize that someday. Let's go get dinner."

"Yeah right, Dinner. Sure" Ron said getting up from the bed. He walked over to his closet to retrieve his robes, pulling them on he looked at Natasha,

"You know I think a lot of people realize how pretty you are." He said seriously, he stepped up to her and looked her in the eyes. She gulped nervously and stared at him, tension rising. "I think they just don't realize how _amazing_ you really are. They don't see you how me and Rachel and Harry see you. You really are my best friend Natasha." He pulled her close in and gave her a hug. Natasha was overwhelmed with emotion and pulled back, smiling.

"You're my best friend too, Ron." She said. "Thank you." She looked at the floor, still wearing a big smile. Ron put his hand under her chin and lifted her view back to him.

"I really missed you this summer." He said, still smiling. Natasha just stared; she was confused and frightened about what was happening. Ever since she had met up with Ron this morning he had been flirting furiously, so what had changed from the previous years that they were friends? Had Ron finally decided that he had feelings for her? Or was he just playing around? Natasha was frantic and confused.

"I missed you too." She said coolly. Ron dropped his hand and smiled.

"Let's get dinner" He said putting his arm around her shoulders. They walked this way down the corridor for a few minutes until they met up with Rachel who was staring blankly out the window with a broken look on her face.

"Rachel!" Natasha said running forward and out of Ron's touch. She hugged Rachel closely and then pulled back. "How are you?"

Rachel gave her a sad smile. "I'm good, getting better. Really excited for dinner though, I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast this morning."

"You should have brought something on the train!" Natasha rolled her eyes.

"I would have shared my sandwich with you." Ron said stepping forward to the girls.

"No it's fine" Rachel smiled. "I'll just be eating a lot at dinner, that's all." She laughed. "Hey there's Seamus." she said pointing out the window which led to the courtyard. Seamus Finnigan stood with a few other Gryffindor boys laughing away. Natasha's face turned sour. Seamus Finnigan was another one of Natasha's ex-boyfriends; this breakup was much cleaner than her and Cedric's. They had decided that over the summer they lived much too far from each other to be together back in second year.

"Yeah… let's not talk to him." Natasha said with a smile. Rachel laughed.

"Okay," She said. "But you know we're bound to have classes with him. That's what you get for dating almost every boy in the school!" Natasha's eyes widened.

"I have not!" She said in a shrill voice. "I have had three boyfriends exactly. Last time I checked there were _a lot_ more boys at Hogwarts!" Ron laughed at this.

"Yeah well," Rachel said. "You could try dating boys a year older so that we don't have _too_ many classes with them..."

"We will solve this dilemma later." Natasha said eyeing Ron. "For now, let's just get dinner it's almost time for opening ceremonies."

"Oh God, worst part of the year." Rachel groaned.

"I love it!" Natasha said happily. Ron nodded in agreement with her.

"It really is the best." He said. "We get to see everyone again, and we get to see Dumbledore!"

Rachel smiled at this; she loved Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"And Snape!" She smiled. Ron and Natasha groaned, Rachel was the only one in the school who actually _liked_ Severus Snape. Rachel Ron and Natasha made their way down the corridor and into the Dining Hall with huge smiles on their faces.

The Hall was lit with candles floating all around. Other houses were already filling up their tables; the professors were sitting at the front of the room smiling and laughing. The Dining Hall looked magnificent. Natasha had missed this place. She said goodbye to Rachel and Ron and made her way to the Hufflepuff table. She sat beside Lavender Brown and gave her a huge hug hello.

She spied Ginny from the corner of her eye, shooting her dirty looks. Her arms were crossed and she had traces of hickeys on her neck. Her robes were slightly loose around her shoulders and she was wearing Harry's Gryffindor pin, proudly stating that she was his property. Natasha sat down beside her which was like sitting into a pool of tension. She could feel Ginny's wrath beating down on her. Her eyes blazed through Natasha like fire.

"Have a nice chat with Ronald?" She said in her nasally voice.

"Excuse me?" Natasha said raising her eyebrows.

"Well we saw Rachel leave after Harry and I so that must have meant to had some alone time with my brother." She said proudly with a smug look on her face.

"Yeah. We did." Natasha said truthfully. "So, what's your point?"

"You must have had some good times…" Ginny said, she reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a stick of red lipstick and was applying it hastily. "I mean, you must have done _something_ hot."

Natasha just stared. "Okay one: what the hell is wrong with you, this is your brother you are talking about. And two no, me and Ron are just friends, I don't get why you're so interested anyways."

Ginny stopped applying her lipstick and narrowed her eyes.

"One: He's my _step_ brother. We're not even blood related. And Two: I was just wondering, trying to become friends. God sometimes you can be a real bitch, just because I hate Rachel doesn't mean I have to hate you. I thought we could befriend what we used to have and start anew. But I guess not." Ginny turned away. Natasha was shocked; who could have thought Ginny had good intentions? But who knew, maybe her intentions weren't so good.

"S-sorry." Natasha stammered. "I just figured that you had the same feelings towards me as you did for Rachel. I guess, maybe…" Natasha took a pause and thought about what she was saying. "Maybe we should start over?" She thought back to first year when she had first met Ginny. She had been so caring and kind towards her when Natasha explained to her that she was Muggle born. Ginny had taken her in and become friends with her instantly but somewhere between summer between first and second year Ginny had changed. Not only in appearance but she went after all the boys. It was like she needed them so that she would be able to feel good about herself, to build up her confidence. Now Ginny was looking at Natasha with a mysterious grin on her face.

"Start over?" she asked.

"Yeah." Natasha answered. "You know, I don't have anything against you and you don't have anything against me. We can start new. Fresh." Natasha smiled warmly.

"That's exactly what I had in mind before." Ginny rolled her eyes and laughed. "But that sounds good." She stuck her hand out. Natasha grabbed it and they shook.

_A deal with the devil_ Natasha thought. Rachel would kill her, but she knew that her new friendship with Ginny would make Harry happy, and that was what was important. As long as she was friends with Ginny, Harry would keep hanging out with herself Ron and Rachel. She just needed to keep Harry close, without him being angered by the old rivalry between the girls, and this was a good start.

"Great!" Ginny said in a high pitched voice. "Now we can _really_ talk, seriously. What's going on between you and Ron?" Natasha laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Nothing!" She said. "I swear."


	5. Chapter 5

After a long dinner of talking with the other Slytherin girls, Rachel had forgotten about the situation with Harry and Ginny. She looked around the dining hall, up at the night sky which glittered above her head. It was an amazing feeling to be back at Hogwarts. The magic surrounding her gave her an amazing feeling. She knew she belonged in the Wizarding World. It was the one place where she felt like she could be herself, she didn't have to pretend to be something she wasn't, rather than when she was in the Muggle world and she had to hide her magic. She looked around at the other houses. There was Gryffindor on the opposite side of the room. Ron and Harry, who she had become good friends since the beginning. They even accepted her after she had been sorted into Slytherin, they didn't care. The next table over was Ravenclaw, she spotted the first year boy from the train station earlier that morning –Kevin- looks like he was sorted into the house he wanted. He noticed Rachel's gaze and gave her a wave, she waved back at him with a smile. In the section of third years Cho Chang sat twirling her hair while the boys surrounded her, she seemed to be enjoying the attention. Rachel rolled her eyes and looked beside her at the Hufflepuff table. There sat her best friend, her sister, her _saviour_: Natasha. Rachel and Natasha had been friends since year six after they bumped into each other while they were both on summer vacation in Michigan. They had been traveling with their parents to see a play at Michigan West University. After seeing each other there and becoming friends they spent the rest of the summer together at home in Vancouver, laughing away and becoming closer each and every day. After they had gotten their Hogwarts letters the same summer they had made a pact to be sisters. No matter what, they were always there for each other through everything. Every bad breakup, every family issue, no matter what. They were always going to be inseparable. Rachel smiled at Natasha but had not caught her gaze, she was busy talking too…

_Ginny Weasley. _

Rachel narrowed her eyes and looked away quickly.

_Why is she talking to her!_ She thought. _Why on earth would she waste her time on someone like _her?

Thoughts rushed through Rachel's head rapidly. She stole glances at Natasha and Ginny who seemed to be getting along magically. She didn't want to look anymore; she turned her attention around to Draco who had sat down beside her at the start of dinner.

"Rachel," He said, his deep voice breaking on her name. "I was thinking that you and I, well," He paused and clasped his hands together and looked her deep into her green eyes which were sparkling with anticipation. "We should really spend more time together, don't you think?" Rachel just gave him a smile in return. "I mean," He continued "We're both Slytherin, and I thought after last year that you and I could become really close friends." He grinned at her, his white teeth bearing. Rachel couldn't say no.

"I know," she laughed. "I mean, we should try spending more time together. I think we could be really good friends" She paused before she said the word 'friends' Hoping he would catch what she was getting at.

"Well you know," Draco said putting his right hand on hers. "You can always visit the boys dorm, it's not like it's very far from you." He gave her a wild smile that was full of adventure.

"I will totally come visit you." She smiled back and Draco gave her hand a little squeeze which sent a warm feeling through her body, bringing out a blush on her face.

"Sounds like a deal." He said smoothly, taking his hand off of hers and bringing both of his together again in a clasp.

"Yeah, deal." She echoed with a big grin on her face. She batted her eyelashes twice before she sat up straight and caught another glance behind her at Natasha who was still hitting it off with Ginny.

_That Bitch_. She thought, referring to Ginny.

"Does it bother you?" Draco said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Does what bother me?" Rachel asked dumbly with wide eyes.

"Ginny and Harry." He said in return.

"Why would it bother me?"

"Well it's quite obvious that you have strong feelings for the boy, everyone sees it. The way you look at him, how when he makes a joke you laugh the hardest. You blush whenever he's near and you are always giving Ginny Weasley dirty looks these days. I think it's quite obvious what's going on, does it bother you?"

A part of Rachel wanted to break down and scream out all her feelings, showing Draco how much it really hurt her to see Ginny and Harry, and now Natasha and Ginny, all getting along. She wanted to cry into his shoulder. But she couldn't, she knew that she had to stay strong about this and if she ever wanted anything to happen with Draco then she couldn't show her feelings for Harry.

"No." She said seriously. "It doesn't at all. I couldn't care less for her." She smiled sadly at Draco, trying to cover her pain.

"Yeah, alright. If you say so." He said standing up. "I've got to go with the other boys," He said nodding at the door to where the Slytherin boys stood, just about to leave the hall. "Catch you later tonight?" He said with a hint of excitement in his voice. Rachel thought for a minute.

"Yes, I'll come over for a visit" She replied smiling. She stood up and he wrapped his arms around her giving her a tight squeeze he whispered "I'll see you later." He uncoiled from her grasp and walked away, once at the door he turned his head around for one final goodbye smile at her. She smiled right back and tried to hide the butterflies he was giving her on the inside. Sitting there alone she should about her thoughts towards Draco Malfoy. In the past there had always been _something_ there. Not always visible but always hiding in the back of her mind.


	6. Chapter 6

"So Natasha," Ginny said when dinner was finally finished. "Coming up to Hufflepuff to hang out?" Natasha looked up at Ginny, they had been having a fantastic conversations all of lunch about summer gossip and classes they were both taking (**Ginny:** _Muggle Studies, Charms, Potions, Goul Studies and Defence Against The Dark Arts. _**Natasha:** _Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History Of Magic, Defense Against The Dark Arts.) _But Natasha knew that she couldn't spend too much time with Ginny. She saw Rachel at dinner from the corner of her eye watching herself and Ginny talking with a hurt look on her face; she didn't want to make her anymore upset so she politely told Ginny that she had other plans and she rushed down to the Slytherin hall where she figured she would find Rachel.

She found her a half hour later sitting in the corridor right outside Slytherin House, having a chat with none other than Mr. Draco Malfoy himself.

"Oh hey guys." Natasha interrupted quietly. "Rachel, I was wondering if you wanted to go out and practice Quidditch before try outs start up again next week?" Rachel looked up at Natasha with a smirk little glare. She seemed to have been happy sitting there next to Draco Malfoy. They were facing each other with their legs crossed, just moments ago, smiling into each other's eyes.

"Funny you should ask." Draco had said before Rachel had the chance to respond. "Me and Rach were just discussing that, we don't think we're going to go for Quidditch this year."

"What!" Natasha exclaimed. "Rachel, don't do that. You love Quidditch…" Rachel kept a hard gaze on Natasha, no way was she about to treat her well, after she had spent dinner chatting away with Ginny Weasley? No way.

"Well, Draco and I figured it was just a waste of our time, we have so many better things to do with our time." She smiled mischievously at Draco, he blushed and laughed soflty. Natasha narrowed her eyes at them both, she saw what was going on. Just because she had that simple conversation with Ginny at dinner, Rachel had already gone out to seek her revenge. Fine, she could go ahead, Natasha didn't need her anyways.

"Fine." Natasha said turning around. She walked away without another sound, except for the sound of her school shoes stepping on the cold pavement that scaled the castle.

"What's up her ass?" Draco said bluntly.

"Oh Wizard God, I have no idea." Rachel sighed. "It's like, she's all of the sudden best friends with Ginny Weasley, and all I said was I didn't want to join Quidditch and she's already acting just like Ginny."

"You mean, like a bitch?" Draco said, running his hands through his blonde hair.

"Exactly." Rachel said standing up. "Shall we take this into the common room?" She gave Draco a bright smile.

"I think we shall!" He winked at her and they linked arms and walked together into the common room, Dracos arm slid down from her and his hand landed in hers. Intertwining their fingers, they sat down on one of the many green and silver coloured couches that were lining the room. Rachel shivered, she had left her Slytherin sweater in her room. "Cold?" Draco asked, pulling out his wand. He smoothly swished and flicked it in the direction of the stone fireplace that stood at the front of the room. "_Incendio" _he whispered. A spark flew from the tip of his wand into the fireplace, a fire crackled and then roared into flames.

"Fancy." Rachel nodded towards the flames which grew higher. "A bit much though." She laughed.

Draco squeezed her hand.

"It will settle down." He smiled a toothy grin then looked her in the eyes. "What are we?" he asked bluntly.

The words stood still in the air. Rachel's cheeks flushed red and she didn't know how to respond.

"I mean," Draco continued. "Obviously there is something going on, there has been since second year when you walked into my potions class and introduced yourself. You've changed my life ever since."

Rachel looked up at him under the shade of her deep red hair.

"Changed your life?" She asked. Draco sat back into the cushion of the couch, still grasping onto her hand.

"Remember what you first said to me?" He raised his eyebrows. "You came in the classroom late and Snape was rambling on about how disrespectful it was. He suggested you sat beside me so you could 'learn from the best, and become a model student.'' Rachel laughed remembering this moment. She was late because she and Natasha had spent the entire morning with Harry and Ron, down at Hagrid's hut, discussing their summers and what had happened. They had lost track of the time and ended up running up to the castle to make it in time for their classes. Luckily they were already dressed in their robes and had their books, unfortunately Rachel had the strictest professed in the school. Severus Snape. Rachel smiled at Draco

"I remember that day." She said. "I sat down with you and you introduced yourself as 'The Greatest Thing That Has Ever Happened To You.'" Rachel raised her eyebrows at Draco, he laughed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't have remembered that." He said. His fingers traced the palm of her hands. "I was younger okay. That was only year two!"

"Yeah." She said looking up at him. "Things have changed now haven't they?"

"They really have." He agreed. They sat in silence, only the fire crackled and the warmth glowed on their skin.

"So how have I changed your life?" Rachel asked tracing back to the previous question.

"Well," Draco continued. "You sat down beside me and had this whole attitude against me. I don't know, maybe it was because I was being a douche to you, or that Snape was favouring me. But whenever I tried to talk to you after that you would just be...ignorant! Like you hated me."

Rachel laughed. "Yes I remember that. It was because you were rude to Ron by the way, nothing to do with how you treated me." Draco sighed.

"Makes sense now." He said. "Well, your constant attitude got my attention. I played closer attention to you, trying to figure out what I had done to deserve it. I remember, it was October. We were sitting in potions class as per usual, you were giving me dirty looks whenever I would answer one of Snape's questions correctly, but I was trying to ignore that. We were brewing Herbicides and I was half way through putting drops of the Flobberworm Mucus when I realized that I didn't have enough to finish the potion. I nudged you, and you had turned around and started yelling at me because I had bumped your arm so you ended up spilling too much Horklump Juice into your cauldron…" Draco Explained.

"I remember!" Rachel cut in. Her thoughts traced back to that day.

"_Sorry! Sorry!" Draco said, his face red. "I was just… I mean I just-"_

"_You just what!" Rachel snapped at him. Her expression was furious, eye brows narrowed and her hands gripped the Cauldron spoon in angst. _

"_I was just wondering," Draco continued. "If you could lend me some of your Flobberworm Mucus. I've run out." He looked down in shame. Rachel's face turned soft,_

"_Oh." She smiled. "So perfect student Draco Malfoy… "The Best Thing That Has Ever Happened to Me" is asking for a favour?" Draco looked up and smiled at her, his blue eyes shining._

"_The _Greatest_ thing, actually" He smiled. Rachel just laughed and rolled her eyes._

"_Fine." She said. "The first ones free, next time you need a favour, I better get something in return." She handed over the green flask. _

"_Thank You." He nodded. He unscrewed the cap and held the flask over his Cauldron, a dense green drop slid out and into the Cauldron, causing a cluster of smoke to escape from the boiling pot, fogging up the air around Rachel and Draco. They both started coughing. Looking at each other, Rachel realized that she could no longer go on treating Draco like an enemy. She held out her hand, Draco accepted this gesture and took hers in his and gave It a shake. She burst out laughing. _

"_What?" Draco said, blushing._

"_I just wanted the flask!" she laughed._

"_Oh." Draco said, his face going deep red. He picked up the flask and put it in Rachel's hand._

"_Thank you." She said. Draco smiled back._

"And then we were friends." Rachel said, after Draco had explained the story.

"And then we were friends" He repeated. "But it hasn't always been that way, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked curiously.

"I mean, we were never _just friends_ Rachel. I know you have a thing for Potter, you always have. But I didn't ask you to come for pumpkin juice at Hogsmeade every single weekend trip, just for laughs. I mean we did have laughs, but do you understand what I'm saying?" Rachel shifted in her seat.

"I…I do." She said looking into his eyes. They were filled with something, a feeling of uncertainty, which was exactly what she felt. She loved Harry. She always had and always would, but there were feeling she had towards Draco, they had always been there, just not as much as they had been for Harry.

_Harry has Ginny now._ Rachel thought.

"I want you." Draco said, he had passion in his eyes and a rasp to his voice. "Ever since that day. Ever since you told me that _"The first ones free."_ I know your friends hate me. Potter, Weasley, Hall. I don't care. We've always had something and it's about time that we make it real." He leaned towards Rachel, their foreheads touching. His hands crept up onto her thighs and they were sitting eye-to-eye.

"I.." Rachel stammered. "We.."

"Don't say anything." He whispered. He leant into her, his lips touching her. The softness of the kiss ran chills up and down her spine. Fireworks escaped from within and sent smiles to their faces.

"Okay." Rachel said simply. Their lips were still slightly touching and Draco felt the breath escaping her as she spoke.

"Okay?" He asked.

"We can make this real." Draco reached up and held her hands in his, fingers intertwined he kissed them, one by one. They smiled at each other and laughed. Draco looked into her deep green eyes.

"So Rachel, will you be my girlfriend?" He asked officially. Rachel nodded and replied,

"Yes." She smiled. "Yes Draco, I will." The rest of the night was spent by the fire, sharing secret kisses and nonsense conversations that brought smiles to their faces.


End file.
